The Redemption Of Lady Wifi
by Bill K
Summary: Being used as a weapon against Ladybug has come with an emotional cost to Alya. Will she be able to handle being forced to become Lady Wifi a third time?
THE REDEMPTION OF LADY WIFI
A Miraculous Ladybug fanfic

by Bill K.

* * *

All characters within, with the exception of Caduceus, are copyright 2016 by Zagtoon and are used without permission, but with respect. Caduceus is copyright 2016 by me.

* * *

MARINETTE'S DIARY:

 _I had to fight Alya today - - ALYA! She got changed into a villain called Lady Wifi. AND SHE WAS TOUGH! I thought she was going to expose my identity for a while! What would Mom and Dad have thought about that? And Adrien? What would he have thought?_

 _Fortunately for everybody (even Chloe), I was able to change her back - - with Cat Noir's help. He's a good guy to have around, even if he's a little full of himself. But this is the fourth time someone has been turned evil by this Hawk Moth, whoever he is! And this one really struck close to home!_

 _Physically, Alya seemed to be all right when I changed her back. She didn't seem to remember anything. Which is good! Lady Wifi wasn't her! Well, in a way it was. The Akuma seems to take what you're best at and amplify it. And Alya is inquisitive, and a techie - - and REALLY into comic book heroes and villains. But it turns those skills to evil. AND ALYA'S NOT EVIL!_

 _Like I said, I hope she doesn't remember this. And I hope nobody reminds her (I'm looking at YOU, Chloe). Because that's something Alya shouldn't have to live with. It's not right._

* * *

When she'd left Alya, dazed and confused from being changed back from her other persona, Marinette had just assumed that all memory of her best friend's excursion as the Akuma-driven villainess Lady Wifi had faded with her powers and costume. And it had; but Marinette had forgotten the power of video in the information age and the persistence of Alya once she was confronted with a mystery. The networks had recorded her broadcasts of her confrontation with Ladybug and replayed it through the evening and into the next day.

Cell phone video, ironically, of Lady Wifi terrorizing the hotel had also surfaced on the evening news as well after going viral. Once Alya had seen it, she instantly began analyzing what she saw, because there was something familiar to her about Lady Wifi, almost as familiar as Ladybug was. Soon she recognized the person in the black and white costume and black mask. The initial elation at seeing herself in such a bold and provocative incarnation quickly faded when the gravity of her actions set in.

"I'm sorry," Marinette groaned the next morning when she met her friend, fifteen minutes late, at the corner for their traditional walk to school. "I tripped and tore my slacks, and then I had to find another pair that matched my top, but I couldn't, so I had to change my top and that didn't go with my shoes and," and she grimaced, anticipating the angry reaction that everyone but her knew would never come, "that's why I'm late. But it's only fifteen minutes this time!"

"OK," Alya whispered. Marinette glanced at her. Her friend seemed very interested in the pattern of the concrete in the sidewalk. "For a while there, I thought you might be - - ashamed to be seen with me."

"Why?" Marinette ventured with amazement.

"Did you catch Ladybug on the news last night?" Alya asked. The girl seemed shell-shocked.

"Was she on? I was watching something else," the girl responded, hoping the subject would die and they could move to potentially more pleasant things. "It was a really interesting program..."

"Did you see the woman she was fighting?" Alya persisted, like she was doing penance. "Lady Wifi?" Alya swallowed. "It was me." And she choked up.

"Alya."

"All the people Lady Wifi was threatening . . ."

"Chloe mostly. That doesn't count."

"She," Alya persisted, "I - - fought Ladybug. Tried to expose her identity - - to the entire city." Her eyes, still focused on the sidewalk, grew large. "Tried to destroy her! I had no idea such - - evil - - was inside of me."

"It wasn't you, Alya," Marinette told her as they entered the school grounds. "It was the Akuma. Remember what it did to Ivan? Remember what it did to the other two? You talked to them for your LadyBlog, didn't you? You wouldn't consider them evil, would you? It was the Akuma. It made you do those things."

"Did it?" Alya asked, looking at her friend for the first time. Marinette could see how haunted her friend was. "Did it plant those thoughts in my mind, or did it just bring the evil in me to the surface? Lady Wifi came from somewhere - - somewhere in me."

Marinette wanted to say something, anything, that would convince her friend that what she was thinking wasn't so. But the words wouldn't come initially. And then it was too late.

"It was horrible!" they both heard Chloe screech. Turning, Marinette saw the wealthy young girl recounting the previous day's events to her one friend, Sabrina. "She attacked me! Me! Who never harmed a soul in her life!"

"You were very brave in the face of such malicious behavior," Sabrina nodded.

"Don't interrupt!" snapped Chloe. "Honestly, what is the world coming to when a rich and glamorous young girl can't even be safe in her own penthouse! There are just so many evil creatures in the world!"

"Yeah," Alya whispered. Marinette felt for a moment that she wanted to cry. Then her jaw set.

"Alya," Marinette said, confronting her friend. "Do you want to know who Ladybug is?"

"Well yeah! Of course!" Alya replied, looking at her friend curiously.

"Do you want to broadcast it to the world?"

"No! That would destroy Ladybug! She's the greatest thing that's happened to Paris!" Her spirits fell. "And that's what I almost did."

"That's what the Akuma almost made you do," Marinette corrected her. "It took what makes you who you are and corrupted it." She poked her finger into Alya's arm. "Sure, part of Lady Wifi came from inside of you. We've all got an inner superhero waiting to get out, I guess. But what made her evil was the Akuma. It wanted to broadcast Ladybug's identity to the world, not you. You just said so yourself. You could never be evil, Alya Cesaire."

And so intent on her friend was she as they ascended the steps to school, Marinette missed the top step. She fell face forward, spilling her backpack and her purse on the porch of the school, impacting the limestone on her hands and knees with a spectacular lack of grace.

"Look, Sabrina," Chloe sneered as she passed. "The school has brought in a clown to entertain us!" As Chloe and Sabrina entered the school, Alya helped Marinette to her feet.

"You see?" Marinette said, then nodded toward Chloe. "Now THAT'S evil."

Alya's eyes began to mist behind her glasses. Her mouth puckered with emotion. Then she caught Marinette and hugged her tight.

"Thank you, Marinette," Alya whispered.

"All I did was tell the truth," Marinette whispered back.

And weeks would pass. Hawk Moth would continue to menace Paris and its citizens. But Lady Wifi was seemingly forgotten, or at least conveniently buried and not mentioned.

* * *

MARINETTE'S DIARY:

 _It happened again!_

 _Poor little Manon was turned into a monster by Hawk Moth! That's low enough! But Manon was able to change poor Alya, Nathanael and Officer Roger back into their Akuma forms! And just when Alya was over it! She spent weeks getting over what happened the first time!_

 _Why? Why does this happen?_

 _It's my fault. I haven't found Hawk Moth and put a stop to him. Tikki tells me I'm doing my best, but naturally my best isn't good enough. Not if more people have to go through the trauma of being akumatized._

 _And not if people like Alya, Nathanael and Officer Roger have to go through it again._

* * *

Some weeks after the initial appearance of the freakish rash of bizarre corruptions, outside of a major Paris hospital, a young resident and an equally young nurse sat on a bench. He kept her company, as he always did, while she waited for the bus back to her apartment in another section of the city. "Protection", he always said, though she hoped it might be for different reasons as well. Today, however, the young doctor was not his usual optimistic self and she was the one keeping him company.

"It might be easier on you if you talked it out," Suzette suggested. She tucked a strand of her silky black hair behind her ear.

"I don't know," Raymond sighed. "I became a doctor because I wanted to do some good in the world - - make a difference." He looked at his hands, folded together between his knees. "But am I making a difference?"

"I'd think your patients would say so," the nurse told him.

"Would they? They come to me with their ailments. I tell them what they need to do to regain their health. But if it's not what they want to hear, they don't listen. Then they get worse and come back, and when I can't wave a magic caduceus over them and instantly cure them, they blame me."

"They're ill," Suzette offered. "They're either in despair or they're their own worst enemies. It's not your fault for not being a miracle healer. All you can do is the best your training has prepared you to do."

"Tell that to the patient in room 518," Raymond murmured, studying the ground.

"That's the cancer ward," Suzette whispered.

"I had to transfer her there," Raymond admitted. "I couldn't help her. Maybe no one can. Tell me how that's making a difference. Tell me how that's protecting people from harm."

Just then the bus pulled up. Suzette contemplated staying with Raymond, but knew her family was waiting for her. She got up.

"Maybe you'll feel better tomorrow," she suggested. "And if you don't - - we can talk some more. But please realize that you do make a difference, even if you don't see it right now."

She boarded the bus and it sped off. Raymond remained on the bench, thinking about all the people he had tried to cure and failed. And in a loft not far from him, a window irised open and a masked man smiled. Within moments, a black butterfly silently approached Raymond. Unnoticed, it landed on the caduceus pin on his lapel and was absorbed into it. Suddenly Raymond sat up straight.

"Caduceus," the seductive serpentine voice in his head began, "you want to rid the world of disease and suffering, but selfish humanity won't cooperate. I can give you the power to save them in spite of themselves. I can give you the power to truly make a difference in this broken world. And all I ask in return are the Miraculous of Ladybug and Cat Noir. A fair exchange, don't you think?"

"Quite fair," Raymond said to no one, staring intently at nothing. A man and a woman passed by him and stared curiously.

Then, to their amazement, the man on the bench was consumed by a bubbling black ooze. As it melted away, the man on the bench was gone, replaced by a fearsome figure. A white lab coat covered black slacks, a black shirt and a black tie. White pupil-less eyes stared out from an onyx face, sunlight catching the rises and falls of his features and casting them a dark gray. In his right hand was a large caduceus, symbol of the medical profession, and in his left was a two foot long, eight inch diameter syringe with a foot long needle. The couple passing grew wide-eyed and began to run in fear.

"Increased heart rate," he said almost mechanically. "Overexposure to the sun. Ingestion of high-caloric fatty foods. Inhalation of carcinogenic air. But don't worry; I'll protect you."

Caduceus aimed the syringe at the fleeing couple. The syringe discharged twice, shooting semi-transparent bubbles at the fleeing people. Overtaking them in seconds, the two were consumed by the bubbles. Each one reacted with mounting panic as they pushed at the walls of their solitary prisons to no avail. Though they struggled to break free, each one was sealed in a protective bubble, cut off from all interaction with the planet, but safe from anything that could physically harm them.

The akumatized physician turned and looked across the street. The people on the opposite corner turned and ran.

"Don't worry," Caduceus said, raising the syringe. "I'll protect you."

* * *

"So," Adrien asked as he and Marinette bracketed Alya, "how are you - - I mean - - are you, well, all right?" He looked away momentarily in embarrassment. "I, um, heard about what happened yesterday - - with The Puppeteer."

The three were walking down the hall, headed for the exit. Class was over for the day. Though no one had spoken about it during the day, Alya had noticed that everyone was very cautious and reserved around her. Ladybug's exploits were front page news in Paris and everyone had seen the return of Lady Wifi.

Marinette and Adrien had noticed, too.

"It's," Alya replied, trying to keep a brave face, "not something I really want to talk about. I know you're concerned. After all, someone else might find a way to bring her back to the surface . . ."

"That's not what I'm worried about," Adrien interrupted. "I'm worried about you. Being controlled like that - - it's really something that can destroy a person if they let it. The guilt, the fear . . ."

"You sound like you speak from experience," Alya said, looking quizzically at him.

"Nino," Adrien shrugged. "He still thinks about it every once in a while. Something will happen and remind him. So I lend an ear and let him talk it out."

"Ah," Alya nodded and actually smiled. "That's one of those weird things Nino and I have in common. He tries to put up a brave front, but I know it bugs him sometimes. So we're sort of a two-person support group." Her eyes reconnected with Adrien. "I no sooner hit school this morning when Nino pounced on me and started trying to cheer me up. Which was sweet." She glanced sentimentally at Marinette. "And I barely got home last night before THIS ONE was on the phone to me."

"I figured you needed a hug," Marinette shrugged as they emerged from the building. "Even a figurative one."

"That was a nice thing to do, Marinette," Adrien told her in earnest. He smiled at the girl. Marinette was a very nice person and quite attractive.

Instantly Marinette flushed. "Well, um, you know. . ." Inwardly Adrien's spirits sank a little. If only she could be as bold and as confident as Ladybug.

Glancing to the street level, Adrien spotted the limousine waiting.

"Well, that's the end of freedom for this day," he sighed. "I'll see both of you tomorrow. Take care of her, Marinette."

"Anything for you," she sighed. Then her eyes grew wide. "I mean, of-of course! You have my word, Adrien! Until death do us . . . um, of course . . ."

Adrien gave her a funny look, then shrugged it off and headed for the limo. While Marinette burned with embarrassment, Alya finally couldn't contain herself any longer and snorted out a laugh.

"Nice to know some things never change," she giggled.

"Why couldn't I be mute?" Marinette sighed.

"Don't think you have EVERYBODY fooled!" Chloe spat. The pair turned and found Chloe standing six feet from them, Sabrina on her left. Chloe glared in righteous anger. "How convenient The Puppeteer happened to find the perfect partner in crime. I always said you were a no good criminal!"

"You leave her alone!" Marinette hissed angrily.

"I am no more a criminal than anyone else who has been used by Hawk Moth!" Alya snarled.

"You're a criminal!" Chloe spat back. "And if you so much as LOOK AT ME WRONG, I will have you thrown in prison! My father's the mayor, you know!"

"Wow, haven't told us that in fifteen whole minutes!" Alya snapped.

"I mean it! You stay clear of me with your freaky computer powers or I'll have you inoculated!"

"Uh, I think you mean 'incarcerated'," Sabrina suggested.

"Did I ask you?" Chloe snapped. She turned and stormed off, Sabrina scurrying to keep up. Alya just glared after her.

"Somebody needs to remind 'Mademoiselle Bourgeois' of Antibug," seethed Alya.

"Alya," Marinette began.

"I know," Alya sighed sourly. "It's just Chloe being Chloe. Her kind of ignorance I can deal with - - because what Lady Wifi does isn't my fault." Alya glanced at Marinette and grinned sheepishly. "A very wise person taught me that." Marinette felt her eyes begin to water.

Then Marinette noticed her friend's smile dim.

"But this is twice now," Alya admitted. "Twice I've been used against Ladybug. Twice my life has slipped under the control of someone else. What if it happens again, Marinette?"

"Once Hawk Moth is stopped, it won't," Marinette assured her. "Trust Ladybug to do it."

"I do," Alya replied. "But how do I guard against it until then? If I'm going to be used, I wish it would be Ladybug using me to kick Hawk Moth instead of Hawk Moth using me to kick Ladybug."

At once, the girls heard a great commotion from down the street. Then they saw a bubble form around a man on the street. He shoved and pounded on the bubble, but it wouldn't break. Adjusting their site line, they saw him: Caduceus.

"Looks like Hawk Moth is at it again!" Alya said. She turned and gripped Marinette by the forearm. "Run home! Lock your doors and don't come out until Ladybug and Cat Noir have beaten him! Don't risk yourself!"

"Alya, you're not . . .!" gasped Marinette.

"Of course I am," Alya chuckled, eyes twinkling and her depression momentarily forgotten. "This is what I live for: Finding the truth and showing the world!"

Alya ran toward the scene. "Be careful!" Marinette shouted after her. Tensely she watched until Alya disappeared from sight. Then she scampered behind the school and opened her purse.

"Hawk Moth so soon?" Tikki asked, hovering near Marinette's face.

"Maybe he's getting desperate," Marinette supposed. "After all, if he's capable of akumatizing a pre-school girl, he's capable of anything! TIKKI! SPOTS ON!"

The limousine ferrying Adrien and his father's personal assistant, Nathalie Sancoeur, had been two blocks from the school when they encountered Caduceus. The limo driver was the first to see him.

"Mademoiselle Sancoeur!" The Gorilla exclaimed. "Up ahead! That man!"

As the car began to slow, they all witnessed Caduceus trap a young girl and her mother in separate bubbles. Their eyes popped in disbelief.

"He's been akumatized," Adrien murmured. But Nathalie heard him and, as one of her jobs was keeping abreast of all current events, knew exactly what he was talking about.

"Get us out of here!" Nathalie demanded. "As fast as you can!"

"But we have to help those people!" Adrien protested.

"We'll call the police from a safe distance," Nathalie told him in a tone that expected to be obeyed. Then they noticed Caduceus turn to them.

"Seven point six percent of all traffic accidents end in injury or fatality," he said in a monotone. "I will protect you." And he leveled his giant syringe at the car.

"RAM HIM!" bellowed Nathalie.

"What?" gasped The Gorilla.

"We have to protect Master Agreste!"

The hesitation, though, allowed Caduceus the chance to get off a shot. The bubble passed through the chassis of the car like it was mist, then enveloped the chauffeur. The act also stalled the engine and the limo eased to a stop. As Caduceus approached the car, Nathalie threw herself over the seat back and tried to reach around the trapped chauffeur to restart the car. A second bubble fired, passed through the car and engulfed Nathalie. Adrien pressed against the door on his side of the limo, staring at her in shock.

"Go!" Nathalie barked at him desperately. "Run! Get away before you're captured, too!"

His mind rebelled against leaving them behind, but he'd been taught to obey. Adrien threw himself against the car door and popped it open. He stumbled out into the street and rolled to the pavement, the action allowing him to narrow avoid being engulfed by a third bubble. Scrambling to his feet, Adrien sped toward an alley between two buildings and ducked behind a trash dumpster. Cautiously peering out to see if he was being pursued, Adrien only relaxed when he was sure the akumatized man had dismissed him.

"Wake up, Plagg!" Adrien ordered. The Kwami levitated up to face level.

"I don't suppose you're calling me for dinner, eh?" Plagg sighed.

"You know, I bet Ladybug's Kwami doesn't give her this much grief," muttered Adrien. "Plagg, Claw's Out!"

It took several minutes to find Caduceus. When Cat Noir finally spotted him from the roof of an apartment building, the menace was already engaged with Ladybug.

"And there's Alya. The dutiful biographer," he muttered, noticing the girl crouched down behind a parked car just thirty-five feet from the battle, recording it with her cell phone. He smiled to himself. "Still, without her you wouldn't have that wonderful library of Ladybug video clips at home, would you?" His baton clasped in one hand, Cat Noir launched himself into space.

"Possible muscle or bone injury from unnatural actions," Caduceus said as Ladybug twirled her yo-yo just fifteen feet from him. "Long-term joint degradation; susceptibility to respiratory infection. I will protect you." And he leveled his giant syringe at her.

"Always some big strong man wants to protect poor little me," Ladybug quipped sarcastically.

Instantly Ladybug somersaulted over the bubble shot at her. As Caduceus prepared to fire again, she lashed out at the syringe with her yo-yo. She struck the syringe, knocking the aim away from her and causing the bubble to misform. A tiny one popped off of the tip of the needle and bounced harmlessly down the street. At that moment, Cat Noir landed feet first onto Caduceus's back, slamming him into the pavement. The hero sprang up from him, somersaulted in midair and landed in front of Ladybug.

"I hope I'm not late, M'Lady," Cat Noir said, bowing theatrically. "As usual, your breathtaking beauty has sent the villain to swooning."

"And as usual you're a little too glib," Ladybug replied, though she couldn't help smiling. Cat Noir was cute; if he'd just stop trying so hard to impress her, he might be as cute as Adrien.

"Have to protect," grunted Caduceus. He extended his symbolic totem toward them even as he lay on the pavement. While the post of the totem shook in his trembling hand, the two intertwined snakes suddenly came to life. They turned and began slithering toward the two heroes.

"Away, pests!" Cat Noir exclaimed, extending his baton into a staff and swinging at the snakes like he was golfing. But the snaked avoided the slash and lunged at the black-clad youth. Ladybug gasped in alarm and was about to use her yo-yo.

There was no need. Cat Noir flipped up into the air. At the apex of his flip, he extended his staff down to the pavement, then gripped the other end and balanced in the air atop it. Undaunted, the two snakes turned and shot towards Ladybug with unnatural speed. The heroine retreated two steps, then realized the snakes were moving faster than her retreat. Executing three backwards cartwheels that would have made an Olympic gymnast jealous, Ladybug managed to put enough space between her and the snakes so that they weren't an immediate threat.

By now Caduceus had pushed up to his knees. The menace brought his syringe up, pointed it at Cat Noir and fired point black. Executing a perfect forward flip, Cat Noir avoided it. The bubble passed below him, passing through his staff. Cat Noir swung the staff like an ax, hoping to knock Caduceus out and give him a chance to find where his akuma was hiding. But the instant the bubble passed through Cat Noir's staff, it retracted back into a baton. Cat Noir landed, on his feet of course, just a foot away from Caduceus, his swing completely missing the target.

The youth looked at the baton, puzzled. Then he looked at Caduceus, the pair staring in confusion at each other for a moment.

Caduceus stepped back and leveled his syringe at Cat Noir, firing at point blank range. Only the speedy intervention of his baton, brought up against the needle and forcing the bubble to shoot into the air, allowed Cat Noir to evade it. A duel ensued, Caduceus trying several times to aim the syringe at him and Cat Noir using his baton each time to block it or push it away. He countered Caduceus eight times, using both his baton and his foot, to his adversary's increasing frustration. Finally Caduceus left himself open and Cat Noir jammed his left palm into the man's chin, knocking him on his back. But before he could move in, Caduceus got off another shot from his syringe. Cat Noir had to leap to the side and roll to avoid it.

While this happened, Ladybug was being stalked by the two snakes. One of the snakes tried to flank her. The other bared its fangs and lunged. Her spinning yo-yo knocked the attacking snake away from her. Then she leaped over the attack of the flanking snake. Her landing brought her back into its path, as the flanking snake had pivoted and lunged again. She instantly executed a sideways cartwheel that narrowly took her out of the snake's path, then did a backwards flip to avoid contact with one of the bubbles that Cat Noir had knocked away.

"Ladybug!" she heard Alya shout. "The snakes are coming back!"

Turning as she landed, Ladybug saw that the snakes were charging her again from two different directions. Spinning her yo-yo, Ladybug waited until the last possible moment, then somersaulted out of the path of the flanking snake. As she twisted in midair, she brought her yo-yo down and struck the snake. The force of her blow lifted the reptile up into the air. It sailed for one of the empty bubbles that had missed Cat Noir and passed through the bubble's skin on contact. The snake landed and tried to return to the attack, but couldn't pass through the skin of the bubble and the bubble held it securely.

When she landed, the other snake lunged at her. She heard Alya gasp loudly from behind the parked car. There was no time to leap again. Swinging her yo-yo, Ladybug struck the snake and shot it to another of the misfired bubbles. Like before, the snake passed through the skin of the bubble and was trapped within it.

Ladybug turned to see how she could help Cat Noir against Caduceus. And a bubble, fired at Cat Noir and sent errant, struck her full on. It enveloped her in moments. Ladybug lunged against the side of the bubble, trying to push through it. But the walls held firm. She was trapped.

"LADYBUG!"

Cat Noir turned at Alya's frantic cry and spotting what had happened. Caduceus was abandoned. Cat Noir cut the distance between them in moments, but frantic waving from Ladybug stopped him just short.

"Don't touch the bubble!" she screamed. "You might get trapped, too!"

For a moment, Cat Noir just stared in frantic agony. Ladybug - - his Ladybug - - fall victim to this horrible fate? Then his features hardened.

"CATACLYSM!" he bellowed.

Dark energy collected in his right hand. Cat Noir let it gather until he couldn't hold anymore, then jammed his hand against the bubble. If he was trapped, at least they'd be together. But the dark energy did its job. Instantly the bubble began to disintegrate. The dark energy of Cat Noir's cataclysm ate away at the bubble like acid. Not wanting to trust it, Ladybug leaped out of the bubble the moment the hole was big enough. It continued to disintegrate into nothing behind her. Ladybug looked to Cat Noir and saw the grateful relief on his face. She wanted to thank him, but Caduceus had to be stopped first.

And with the speed of thought, another bubble struck Cat Noir from the side. He was engulfed in moments as Ladybug staggered back from him. The force of the impact had knocked him to his knees. Cat Noir looked up at her, stunned at the turn of events. Ladybug's mind began to race.

Then Cat Noir's ring began beeping.

"He's going to change back soon!" Ladybug thought in alarm. "His identity will be revealed to Alya and Caduceus - - and Hawk Moth! I have to end this now!"

Bolting for Caduceus, Ladybug dodged a bubble fired at her and swung her yo-yo in an overhead arc. It struck the syringe and the force of the blow jammed the tip into the pavement. It wouldn't hold for long. The move was just to buy her enough time.

"Lucky Charm!" Ladybug shouted, spinning the yo-yo up into the air. Magically an item appeared and dropped into her hands. It was a red cell phone with black dots on it. "What am I supposed to do with this?"

Frantically she looked around as Caduceus pulled his syringe out of the pavement. Nothing was registering - - until her eyes caught sight of Alya, still crouched behind the car and still recording. Alya began to flash with the ladybug pattern.

"No!" Ladybug thought, her face reacting in horror. "No, I can't! I can't make her go through that again! There has to be another way!"

By now Alya had noticed Ladybug's reaction. No fool, Alya realized what the cell phone in Ladybug's hands meant. A cold lump formed in the pit of her stomach.

Caduceus leveled to fire. Ladybug stood frozen in place. She turned to Caduceus. She and Alya both knew a counterattack might be too late. Alya took it all in, her mind racing. Taking that phone meant surrendering control of her life to Lady Wifi again.

But would it be so bad if Ladybug was pulling the strings? Better her than Hawk Moth.

"Ladybug!" Alya called out, standing up from concealment. Her hand stretched out, seeking the cell phone. "Give me the phone!"

Ladybug looked at her with alarm. Did Alya know what she was doing? Did she know what she was asking? Did she realize that she'd be fulfilling the dire prophecy Chloe had predicted for her and that the other students had thought but had the courtesy not to say?

She wanted to throw the phone in the opposite direction of Alya. But out of the corner of her eye, she could see Caduceus firing another bubble at her. There was no more time for other options. If she was caught, particularly if she was caught by the bubble with the lucky charm in her hand, all was lost. It was Alya against everybody.

"Catch!" Ladybug shouted, grimacing with the agony of her choice. She threw the cell phone at Alya. As the bespectacled student caught the phone, a bubble from Caduceus caught Ladybug. It floated to the pavement and came to a stop with Ladybug once more trapped.

Alya didn't see it. She was too busy transforming into Lady Wifi. In shock, Lady Wifi stared down at the black form-fitting costume trimmed in white that adorned her young body. Her mind reeled. How many times was she going to have to relive this nightmare?

"Alya!" she heard Ladybug scream. Looking up, she saw a bubble coming toward her. Reflexively her hand came up with the cell phone and she shot off a pause icon that instantly intercepted and halted the oncoming bubble. And in that moment, Alya realized something.

"I'm the one in control this time," she whispered in awe. Then her face lit up. "Cool!"

Caduceus fired four more bubbles at her. Lady Wifi intercepted each one with a pause icon. When he fired the fifth one, she merely disappeared in a spark of photons into her phone.

"Lady Wifi is gone!" Caduceus heard Hawk Moth scream in his head. "Quickly, before she comes back! Get the Miraculous of Ladybug and Cat Noir!"

Caduceus obeyed instantly. He turned and made several steps toward Cat Noir. Desperately Cat Noir clawed at the bubble trapping him. Ladybug watched helplessly from her bubble as Caduceus drew closer. And at once, Lady Wifi reappeared from the GPS system of a parked car directly behind Caduceus. She leveled her phone at him.

"Behind you!" Hawk Moth screamed into his akumatized puppet's brain. Caduceus whirled and fired blindly at Lady Wifi, narrowly avoiding a lock icon that would have rooted him to the spot. The bubble he fired careened wildly and would have missed her, but Lady Wifi was gone anyway. A second later she reappeared from the GPS of the car she had originally been hiding behind. And she hadn't been idle.

"My download data icon worked!" she thought, grinning at the screen. "It's pinpointed the akuma in that pin he's wearing on his lapel!"

"Lady Wifi!" Cat Noir called to her from his bubble. "Our transformations are close to expiring! Hurry!"

Frantically Lady Wifi looked around for a means to get close enough to Caduceus in order to grab the lapel pin. She fired two lock icons at him, but he caught them in bubbles and halted them in midair. A glance at Ladybug told Lady Wifi that her idol didn't have much time left. And Caduceus was about to fire.

Desperately she fired three more lock icons at him in rapid succession. While he was capturing them in his bubbles, Lady Wifi threw her cell phone up into the air towards Caduceus. As it arced thirteen feet over his head, she dived into the GPS of the car. Caduceus looked up and saw the phone, then returned his eyes to ground level, trying to spot where his adversary would reappear.

When the phone was directly over his head, she reappeared. Leaping out of the phone, Lady Wifi plummeted down directly at Caduceus. As she fell, she grabbed her cell phone and shot a pause icon at him. Caduceus looked up just in time to see it impact with his body. Nimbly Lady Wifi landed at the feet of the frozen adversary. Calmly she reached up, grasped the Caduceus lapel pin, then ripped it from his lab coat.

"Stomp on it!" Ladybug yelled out frantically.

"I know," Lady Wifi smiled as she dropped the pin to the pavement and stomped on it. "I've seen you in action enough times. I know the drill."

When the akuma emerged from the pin, the bubbles disintegrated. Quickly Ladybug opened her yo-yo.

"Time to free you from evil!" she shouted, catching the fleeing akuma with one swing. The yo-yo gave off a flash of light, then opened to reveal its purified contents. "Bye bye, little butterfly," she smiled.

Immediately, for she could feel the transformation nearing its end, Ladybug raced over to Lady Wifi and grasped the cell phone. But Lady Wifi didn't release it. Ladybug looked at her in confusion.

"Do I have to give it up?" Lady Wifi asked plaintively.

"But I thought you hated being Lady Wifi," Ladybug countered.

"I hate being controlled by others. I hate being used as a weapon against you," the woman in black replied. She smiled timidly. "If I'm in control, being Lady Wifi is - - kind of fun. And I can help you and Cat Noir battle these things!"

"I do understand. We could always use the help. And being Ladybug is kind of fun, too," Ladybug grinned. "But my Lucky Charm attack isn't permanent. I can already feel it overtaxing my miraculous. And I still have to undo all of the damage Caduceus did. Besides, when my transformation fades, so will Lady Wifi."

"Then you'd better do it," Lady Wifi conceded, and released the phone. "As much fun as this was and as much as I'd love to know who you really are, I don't want to be the cause of anybody else finding out."

Ladybug smiled and nodded. Then she turned and tossed the phone in the air, shouting "Miraculous Ladybug!"

The phone exploded in a shower of energy. The energy wave radiated out from the explosion, covering everything. Bubbles faded. Inert machines were restored to life. Caduceus became the caring young physician again.

And Lady Wifi changed back into Alya Cesaire. Ladybug turned to leave, Tikki's thoughts frantically urging her on.

"Ladybug," Alya called out. Ladybug stopped and turned to her. "Thank you. Thank you for giving me the chance to redeem the name Lady Wifi. And thank you for letting me team up with you and Cat Noir. I'll never forget it."

"Neither will I," Ladybug smiled. "And I hope you got a lot of good footage for your blog."

"Oh you know I did," Alya smiled back.

Ladybug nodded, turned and threw her yo-yo to a nearby rooftop. In a blur of red and black, she was gone.

* * *

The next morning, Marinette and Alya were ascending the steps to school, like always. Unlike always, the pair had drawn a crowd. The television news had been filled with footage of the battle with Caduceus. Several cell phone videos had gone viral. And of course Ladyblog had the exclusive story, this time from one of the participants herself. Since the history of Lady Wifi was no secret to anyone at school, this made Alya an overnight celebrity. Where Marinette had anticipated acting as a sympathetic shoulder for her friend when she'd gotten up this morning, as they neared the school her job transformed into bodyguard.

"Look at them fawning all over her," scowled Chloe, some distance away. "She doesn't fool me. She's still a criminal."

"Maybe you should try helping Ladybug out as Antibug," suggested Sabrina. "To show everyone you weren't responsible."

"Who thinks I was responsible?" Chloe demanded. Then she grew a selfish smile. "Still, it would get me closer to Ladybug. And I know she wouldn't dream of turning me down. You know, that's not a bad idea."

Sabrina beamed.

At once, the crowd of students around Alya seemed to part like the Red Sea. She and Marinette looked and found Adrien approaching them, with Nino on his left shoulder. Nino and Alya locked eyes for a moment and a silent communication passed between them.

"A-Adrien! H-Hi!" stammered Marinette. As usual, she felt her cheeks flushing, her brain vacating and her tongue tying itself in a knot. "You look gorgeous this morning." Her eyes grew to saucers. "I-I don't mean gorgeous! I mean - - well, I'm not saying you're hideous. What I mean to say . . .!"

"Marinette," Alya whispered sympathetically out of the side of her mouth, smiling the whole while. "Shut up."

"Shutting up," Marinette groaned. Adrien gave her a strange look and Marinette immediately wanted to dig a six foot hole in the ground and bury herself in it. Alya could see Nino struggling not to laugh and silently threatened his life if he did.

"I saw you in action last night," Adrien said to Alya. "You were fantastic. You saved a lot of people - - including someone close to me."

"Happy to do it, Adrien," Alya nodded.

"Any chance we'll see Lady Wifi again?" Nino asked.

"Can't say," Alya shrugged. "It's not up to me. But she's here," and Alya pointed to her heart, "anytime Ladybug calls."

"And I'm sure she'd love to have you as a partner," Marinette spoke up.

"She's already got a pretty good partner in Cat Noir," Adrien offered. "You sure he won't get jealous?"

"He won't. He's not that kind of guy," Marinette mused. Her eyes grew big again. "So I hear!"

And before she could insert her foot any further into her mouth, the bell for first class mercifully sounded.

* * *

MARINETTE'S DIARY

 _Alya was so jazzed today about having helped Ladybug as Lady Wifi. I think she's finally completely gotten over the trauma. AND I'M SO GLAD!_

 _Now I just have to find a way for Alya to get a Miraculous that'll let her become Lady Wifi whenever she wants, so we can be a team and beat Hawk Moth! Tikki says it's not happening._

 _But I'll wear her down._

THE END


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